Week 14 Adventures

Draha rodino a kamaradi, [note: Dear family and friends]

First of all, dekuji mockrat za vase dopisy! [note: thank you so much for your letters] We haven't had people come down from Prague for a while, but President came down on Friday and brought MAIL! I tell you, mail for missionaries is better than Christmas morning! I will do my best with replying to your letters. They just come in clumps so than it takes a few weeks to reply to all of them. Believe me, there's not a whole lot of time on pdays...:) But thank you all so much for your love and prayers.

Wow these first few days of the new transfer have been a growing experience. I am learning, and growing and being stretched in ways I didn't think possible and I am so grateful for it! It's the Lord's work. He's in charge. I'm here for a reason and I know that He'll qualify me for the work. He always does if we trust in Him! There is something that I am sure you will find funny. I didn't really like talking on the phone all that much before. With the transfers and two new companions coming in, they had no idea about our potential investigators, investigators, members we could teach with etc. So I had to do all that stuff. Talking on the phone isn't so bad anymore :) Something I'm learning really fast is there's no time to sit down and whine and hope someone does the job for you. There's no time for that. So I did it and I'm learning how to be a good missionary and I have so many weaknesses, but the Lord will make them strong like He promises in Ether!

My companions are really great. Sister White is from Florida. She has been out for one year and is so sweet and so smiley and happy. I love it! Sister Jorgensen has been out for 8 months and is a hard-worker. Both of them have surprised me so much with how caring they are. I noticed it right away when after the first night in Brno, we got up for morning prayers and Sister White left the room for a minute. As soon as she left Sister Jorgensen jumped up ran over and made her bed and then hurried back and finished her prayer. That's how it's been these last few days! They serve me, they serve each other and it is so great. I love them both! Our district is really great! I am looking forward to working with these amazing missionaries. 5 missionaries are new to Brno.

Sestra Jorgensen, Sestra Pyšňáková and Sestra White

Our investigators are doing well. We have 4 people that are on date for baptism. We taught one of our investigators this week and it was an amazing lesson. We taught her “druhou cast planu spaseni” [note: the second part of the Plan of Salvation] from “duchovni svet” [note: the spirit world] on down. After we taught the spirit world she said she is "spokojena, ze vsichni maji tu moznost ucit se o Jezisi Kristu" [note: satisfied that everyone has the opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ]. She loved that part! She is always so excited to meet with us and loves reading in the Book of Mormon. “Ona je opravdu pripravena a je tak skvela! Mam ji hodne rada!” [note: She is really ready and she is so great! I love her so much!] After the lesson we asked her if she would pray to know it's true and she said "I believe it's true!" She reminds me a lot of King Lamoni and Ammon in the Book of Mormon because she is so believing and so sincere. Her prayers are so tender. I love hearing her pray. In fact, hearing our investigators pray is one of the sweetest things about missionary work!

And actually, I'm impressed with the way that most Czechs pray. When they pray they bow their heads and then just sit there for a few seconds in silence with their eyes closed as if they are preparing themselves to talk to their Heavenly Father. Then they pray and after they close it they sit there for a few more seconds, heads bowed before moving on with whatever they need to. It's a reminder to me that prayer is a gift and that we truly are talking to our Heavenly Father. It's a special sacred time when we can communicate with our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Father.

Our other investigotor is doing well! I love his smile! He is so swamped with school and exams, but still makes time for us and recognizes that his baptism is so important. We taught him with the Holy's, an amazing family in the Branch, yesterday about how baptism isn't the end of our journey back to God, but only the beginning and that just as he's preparing now for baptism, he will be preparing for ordinances in the temple. It was wonderful teaching with the Holy's who have three small children and have devoted their whole lives to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a lesson on the Word of wisdom with another investigator and it did not go the way I thought it would! It was a very interesting lesson. The thing is she gets the Word of wisdom. I mean she really really gets it! She gets it more than most members of the church do. She said she had no problem with any of it. She already doesn't drink coffee, wine, alcohol etc. She doesn't use tobacco or any of that stuff. The only thing is that she drinks green-tea every once in a while. She said she'd give that up, she has no problem with it. But she didn't think that someone who wouldn't drink green tea, but drank a liter of soda pop a day was living the Word of wisdom either. She said she didn't understand why prophets are so specific about tea, but not in other areas. She said she doesn't think God should have to command us in all things, but if they are specific about things like tea than why aren't they specific about things like soda pop that are filled with sugar and chemicals and aren't good for our bodies either. It was an intense lesson, but I'm amazed how she understands the principle of the Word of wisdom. It's about recognizing our bodies are gifts from God and it's about taking care of it in the way that allows us to receive revelation and have a clear open connection with heaven. Now, it will take faith for her to accept what prophets have revealed and to continue on in her progression. We asked her to pray about green-tea and we will be praying as well. Sometimes it just takes faith! We won't always understand things at first, but understanding does and will come.

We had an amazing lesson with the guy who we contacted on the Namesti [note: Square] and had an amazing discussion with on the atonement. We were finally able to meet with him again and he expressed his desire to change his life around and start over. He's in his late 30s I think and said he's made some very poor choices that he's still trying to fix to this day. He is truly in the process of repenting. He just needs the Savior now. He accepted a baptismal date, but was hesitant as to whether or not he could actually make it. But we asked him to pray about it. We had a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson and it was one of the most tender prayers I have heard. He was so sincere. So humble! He's not a believer so this was the first time he's prayed since he was a child (he used to go to church with his grandma). But he prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help him be prepared for baptism on his date. It was so tender and the spirit was strong!

Well, I have to go! Lots of work to do! I'm looking forward to the transfer! Lots of opportunities to learn and to grow. I love you all so so much! Keep up the good work!

S laskou, Sestra Melissa Pysnakova.

In the home of the Šindýlka family